The Children's Aid Society of New York — A New Start for Disconnected Youth

Ana Bermudez, director of juvenile justice programs for The Children’s Aid Society of New York City, works with youth from some of the city’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. When shestarted with Children’s Aid in 2007, Bermudez knew that a restorative approach would be critical, and she has infused the practices throughout the initiatives she oversees, saying, “I was not going to run any of the programs here without a restorative focus.”

Each year, Children’s Aid serves 150,000 children and families at locations throughout the city, providing services ranging from job training and academic support to health care and family counseling. Bermudez heads the agency’s Lasting Investments in Neighborhood Connections (LINC) program, which helps formerly incarcerated youth transition back to their community. She alsosupervises the Next Generation Center in the South Bronx, a LINC site that provides recreational and educational programs — and a haven in a neighborhood plagued by poverty and violence.

Civil Rights and Restorative Justice project at Northeastern University School of Law

The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project (CRRJ) conducts
research and supports policy initiatives on anti-civil rights violence
in the United States and other miscarriages of justice of that period.
Located at Northeastern University School of Law, CRRJ serves as a
resource for scholars, policymakers, and organizers involved in various
initiatives seeking justice for crimes of the civil rights era.

There is broad consensus in American political culture that the law
enforcement system, particularly in the Deep South, failed to protect
participants in the 1960s-era Civil Rights Movement from anti-civil
rights violence. Communities across the country are grappling with how
to make amends decades after these events. Some have turned to the
criminal justice system. State and local prosecutors have brought fresh
cases against the perpetrators of old hate crimes. Federal legislation
has been proposed to enhance state investigations. A sense of urgency
hangs over these efforts, for those most affected by the events are
aging.

CRRJ focuses on these public policy and criminal justice initiatives.
It conducts research into the nature and extent of anti-civil rights
violence. CRRJ works with members of a diverse community – prosecutors,
lawmakers, victims – that is seeking genuine reconciliation through
legal proceedings, law reform, and private investigations. CRRJ assists
these groups to assess and develop a range of policy approaches,
including criminal prosecutions, truth and reconciliation proceedings,
and legislative remedies. On the research front, CRRJ’s work aims to
develop reliable data with which to analyze events of anti-civil rights
violence and to support research into the history and current
significance of anti-civil rights violence.

Revise laws to lower prison costs, keep everyone safer

Michigan has more than an economic crisis -- we have a crime crisis, too. And we won't be able to solve the overall budget shortfall without making significant cuts in the corrections budget. Our current criminal justice system is costing us over a billion dollars a year, far more than our neighboring states are spending. Yet despite this huge expense for corrections, our communities are still plagued by crime.

Here are a few troubling facts:

Michigan's violent crime rate is higher than all other states in the Great Lakes region.

Corrections is the third most expensive item in Michigan's budget, with only health care and education costing more.

The Michigan Department of Corrections employs one out of every three state workers....